The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) has announced the organizing of a Bulgarian business delegation to the USA.
The delegation is expected to go to the US in the second or third week of November 2010.
The Bulgarian businessmen will be on a week-long visit to Cleveland, OH, and one more destination in the US to be selected from Chicago, IL, or Washington, DC.
The delegation is organized as part of the partnership between the BCCI and the Greater Cleveland Partnership,...

Bulgaria's export to non EU states has shown a substantial growth of 50% up to BGN 8.6 B in the first eight months of 2010, according to the National Statistical Institute.
The main trade partners of Bulgaria were Turkey, Serbia, Russia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Singapore, China,and the USA that formed over 54% of the total export to non EU countries.
The exports to China increased by 256.4% and those to Turkey by 65.2%. The exports to Serbia and Russia reported growth...

Bulgaria's export to the other EU member states registered a substantial growth in the first eight months of 2010.
In January-August, it grew by 23.7% compared to the same period of 2009, reaching BGN 11.7 B. At the same time, Bulgaria's import from the EU was BGN 13.5 B, an increase of 5.4%.
In August, the export was up 48.5% compared to August 2009 and reached BGN 1.8 B.
Bulgaria's major EU trading partners remain Italy, Germany, Romania and Greece, which form about 61.3% of its...

Most commercial real estate markets around the world, including Eastern Europe, have passed the bottom and are now on the rise, according to Colliers International Global Investor Sentiment Survey for the third quarter of this year.
A total of 90% of the survey participants said they planned to expand their current level of real estate holdings within a year or as a minimum maintain them at current levels.
The Global Property Clock equates market cycles to specific times, with 12 o'clock...

Bulgaria's successful example with the introduction of flat tax rates is partly the motivation for Hungary to adopt the same policy, according to Hungarian PM Viktor Orban.
Orban spoke in Sofia Friday at a joint press conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
"Hungary's policies must be directed towards the Hungarian market so that it can pay off its credits, and that is why we are introducing the flat tax following your example, and are reducing in half the taxes on...

Romania's income from foreign tourism is four times smaller than Bulgaria's, Romanian newspaper Ziarul Financiar reports.
In 2009, Romania's revenues from tourism amounted to EUR 882 M, according to the Romanian Statistical Institute. In comparison, Bulgaria's income from foreign tourists was EUR 3.72 B, Hungary made EUR 5.63 B, the Czech Republic – EUR 6.5 B, Croatia – EUR 8.8 B.
The number of foreign tourists who visited Romania in 2009 is five times smaller than the number attracted by...

The Bulgarian government has formally approved a 5-year concession for oil and gas prospecting in a 400 sq.km. area in northeast Bulgaria for North American company Park Place Energy Corp.
Park Place Energy Corp. is registered in the US state of Nevada and based in Calgary and Vancouver, Canada. The area it won to study is said to be very promising.
The company specializes in the extraction of shale gas, a novel and still largely unexplored procedure to capture gas trapped in earth...

Russia's state power trader Inter RAO has been tipped as the most likely buyer of a majority stake in Bulgaria's Maritsa East 3 coal-fired power plant, controlled by Italy's Enel SpA, according to reports.
Inter RAO may be the leading candidate among five bidders interested in Maritza, Italian daily Il Messaggero reported, without citing sources.
According to the report Enel, advised by Deutsche Bank AG, aims to pocked EUR 600 M from the sale and talks are at advanced stage.
Fulvio...

Bulgaria's Black Sea Port Varna has seen its revenues almost triple in the first nine months of 2010, year-on-year.
In January-September, Port Varna processed a total of 5.958 million tonnes of goods and materials, which is 1.112 million tonnes more than in the same period of 2009. About 1.5 million tonnes of these come for the exports of grain.
The greatest increase comes from the transport of grain, ores, coal, fertilizers, non-metalliferous minerals, and container goods, the Transport...

After the 2009 collapse, Bulgaria's metallurgical industry has started to make a comeback with growth of 3.7% in the first nine months of 2010 year-on-year.
Thus, in January-September 2010, the Bulgarian metallurgical plants produced a total of 562 100 tonnes of steel. The production of non-ferrous metals has also started to grow, though by an even smaller share.
This becomes clear from data of the Bulgarian Association of the Metallurgical Industry (BAMI) released Friday, November 5,...

One of Bulgaria's top winter resorts – Borovets in the Rila Mountain – expects a 10% increase of the holidaymakers for the winter season.
According to Neli Sandalska, head of the Board of Borosport AD, the owner of Borovets, the resort is seeing a tangible increase in bookings, especially from Russia and the Balkan countries.
The bookings by British tourists are expected to go up 5%, as is the number of Bulgarians who will spend their winter vacations in Borovets.
The Borovets resort...

The visit of a mission of the International Monetary Fund to Sofia, which started on September 23 and featured regular bilateral discussions on economic policies with the Bulgarian authorities, ends on Monday.
The mission was headed by Ms. Catriona Purfield, who has recently assumed mission chief responsibilities for Bulgaria. This was Ms. Purfield's first visit to the country. Mr. Tonny Lybek, IMF's Regional Resident Representative in Bulgaria and Romania participated in the meetings as...

Thousands of Romanian companies are moving their business to neighboring Bulgaria, the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, informs Saturday.
The reasons cited are the spending cuts and austerity measures imposed in Romania, lower taxes and better conditions for the business in Bulgaria.
In Bulgaria revenue and profit taxes are 10% compared to 16% in Romania. The Value Added Tax (VAT) is also lower. Bucharest recently had to up VAT as a condition to obtain a EUR 2 B loan from the EU and the...

Bulgaria has won a bid to sell large quantities of the "Arsenal" automatic gun to India, Deputy Defense Minister, Valentin Radev, informs.
Radev spoke Friday at the Zmeevo training grounds during the official ceremony dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the military facility.
The automatic gun is the Bulgarian modification of the Russian Kalashnikov, deemed better in comparison by many weapons experts. It is manufactured by the "Arsenal' company in the town of...

Bulgaria's economy will grow 0,3% after a 5,1% contraction in 2009 as investments dwindled and consumption shrank, a local think-tank estimated.
The country will manage to achieve a growth of 3.8% in 2011 thanks to a rise in exports, according to the Agency for Economic Analyses and Forecasts.
Bulgaria aims to have a budget deficit of 2.5% of gross domestic product and a growth of 3.6% in 2011, according to the budget draft.
The country is planning to sell bonds amounting to EUR 1 B on...

The new container terminals at the country's two key Black Sea ports of Varna and Burgas will be granted on concession, officials have announced.
"We plan to hold contests to grant the two terminals on concession once construction works are launched. In this way the state can avoid paying back the loan from the Japanese banks, which the previous government negotiated," Deputy Transport Minister Kamen Kichev told journalists on Saturday.
The current center-right government and the...

Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, officially opened Saturday a 31-km section of the Maritsa Highway between the towns of Harmanly and Lyubimets.
The new road junction near Novo Selo, providing direct connection with the highway to Greece, also opened Saturday.
The cost of construction works is estimated at BNG 36 M and it is financed by the State budget.
The contractors are "Patni Stroeshi" (Road Construction), Plovdiv and "Moststroy" (Bridge Construction), part of the "Holding...

The funds allotted to the Interior Ministry in budget 2011 are 5% more compared to 2010, Bulgaria's Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, announced Saturday.
The BGN 50 M will be used for salaries and improving work conditions.
Tsvetanov reminded the Ministry owes about BGN 30 M as compensations to its employees, and needs really BGN 1 B more in order to function under normal conditions, but promised to make everything possible to fit within the budget frame.
The Minister opened...

Greek merchants and businessmen are flocking to Bulgarian language classes, the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR, reports Saturday.
People from northern Greece are learning Bulgarian and the Cyrillic alphabet in a heated competition with hotel and restaurant owners in Bulgaria's southern resorts to attract more customers.
Bulgarian and Turkish language classes are the latest hit in the Greek border area where fluency in these languages and computer literacy are basic prerequisites for...

Bulgaria's Competition Protection Commission has allowed German supermarket chain Lidl to acquire the Bulgarian stores of another German discount chain, Plus.
Thus, the watchdog has given green light to Lidl Bulgaria GmbH's acquisition of Plus Bulgaria Trade KD, Tengelmann Real Estate International Bulgaria KD, Bulgaria Trade EOOD, and Real Estate International EOOD. The Commission has decreed the immediate execution of its decision.
In June 2010, the European Commission referred the...